Brunswick Cycling Club

Last Saturday saw the Sprint round of the Club championships as well as the February Enduro.

The forecast was for a hot and windy day and the junior session which was in the afternoon certainly got that!

Before the racing got underway Cam walked through a couple of flying 200 options for the assembled crowd.

A strong North wind makes the Brunswick track a lot harder to race yet the young guns showed that they are capable of changing their tactics no matter what type of track or conditions they ride on.

Qualifying saw times pretty close, the flying Irishman Sean McIver being the exception, a whole second faster than his nearest rival.

Nath had spent half the morning setting up the electronic timing which brought the old track into the new millenium and streamlined proceedings.

There were quite a few “first timers” like Nick Katsonis and Nick Mountey who were having their very first Sprinting experiance.

They learn’t with every turn of the crank and are hungry for another opportunity to hone their skills.

There were many close finishes due to the head wind through turns 3 & 4 and the final championship standings will hinge on the efforts of the final round this tuesday night in the scratch races.

The highlight of the afternoons racing was young Sarah Gigante, who only started riding at the Brunswick Clinic last summer.

She loves it so much she has her own track bike and constantly pesters her mum and brother to take her to the track to practice. Her skills and confidance have gone through the roof since she has joined in the tuesday evening racing and most importantly she is having a lot of fun!

The afternoon session finished with an all-in Motor Pace and for some it was home time and for others it was time to relax for an hour before the evening elite sprints were on and the enduro racing.

The temperature had dropped slightly but most significantly the wind had abated and the elites and masters completed qualifying with a minimum of fuss or carbon.

The one exception was that of Ollie who looked resplendant on his all black combo of BT 808 front & disc rear! Word was that the americans styled the stealth bomber off this.

The great thing about combining the sprints with the enduro was that most of the “championship” combatants were more than eager to turn a crank in the enduro events as well (true Brunswick spirit) the 30 lap heart starter motor pace was sneakily stretched to 40+ as Neville the wonder bike called everyone to get on while our officials were powdering their noses… If anyone noticed they didn’t care!!!

That’s what our enduros are all about… Riding the bike for as long as we can!

The sprint semi-finals were up next with some exciting action and mega close finishes.

Next up was a new enduro event that was suggested by Mr Motor Pace himself, Nick Lett. Nick came up with a Paced Team Pursuit, so 14 eager guinea pigs split themselves in 2 and they raced a 15 lap (3mile) pursuit.

Paced on one side by Cam & Neville the wonder bike and on the other side the debut of PB Ben & Suzi  the Derny goddess. Teams had to finish with 4 riders and it was a see sawing affair with Neville getting the boys home by a whisker.

The sprint finals again saw some close finishes and the final championship standings will be decided tuesday night.

The Final event was an 80 lap paced points and the attempts to gain laps were on in earnest before we completed the first lap!

Everyone must have been feeling fresh because as soon as they gained one lap they went straight round for another!

With only 3 sprints remaining the leaders were hanging out the front some 50m away from the growling Neville and his band of faithful followers.

At 22 to go Matt Ladner seized the opportunity and left the shelter of Nev and shot past the tired lead group, try as they might they couldn’t respond to the fresh legs that Matt had and he secured the 5 points!

Just to rub salt in the wounds of the tiring leaders “young” Wally Dapcich hit ‘em hard in the finale!!

it was an enduro to remember with neville catching and passing the lead group, special mention must go to James Pane & Tyson Breen who raced the whole day and Isaac Pane and Kimberly Morgan for racing in the arvo and helped out in the evening.

Also thanks to Helen & Dave, Alf, Karen O’Callaghan, and Jeff Lees for filling in the gaps and preparing the food.

Also to Nath for his electronic wizardry!

The Partypies, sausage rolls and snags in bread were sensational just like the racing.

Next month it’s going to be difficult to fit an enduro in, however we might try and put one on a week or so before the Vic Madison titles so everyone can sharpen their slings.

Onya, Cam

This entry was posted by C. McFarlane on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Reports, Track.